Insurers should be leading the way in tackling climate change, according to the chair of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa).
Speaking at the Insurance Risk & Capital conference organised by Environmental Finance's sister publication InsuranceERM, Gabriel Bernardino said insurers are the "risk managers of society" and the industry needs to lead by example.
He also stressed the importance of implementing a stewardship role in addressing the issue.
He said: "Make sure you take this as an opportunity to develop new products, to [review] calibration of risk according to the evidence you get, to differentiate pricing, to foster innovation towards transition and mitigation of climate risk."
However, he warned that the financial sector "is not the silver bullet to solve climate change".
"Without member states, without politicians to decide on a carbon tax that will align with prices and foster transition, generating new projects and aligning the economy, the financial sector can only do so much, but cannot solve it. We want insurers to be on the front line.
"There's a lot to do, the industry needs a lot of aid and instruments to help with transition but we also need to put pressure on political leaders to take action."